A few months after I became a parent last year, my happy baby turned clingy and grumpy. I had no idea what was going on until I read the book Wonder Weeks. It describes infants’ developmental phases and makes clear that a baby goes through growth spurts before he or she tackles a new skill like rolling over. During transition periods, a baby is in a bad mood and eats and sleeps irregularly. In short: Growth is good and amazing but tough. Sometimes you have to take a step backward before moving forward.
Do you recognize your professional growing pains—or your project's or organization's growing pains? For example, perhaps you once dreamed of how a planned project would take shape but woke up during the execution phase as a nervous wreck. Or perhaps it was once easy to make project decisions. But with more stakeholders in the mix, it now takes ages before an idea or course of action is approved.
Teams at any organization experiencing growth are bound to pass through some uncomfortable territory. In my experience, the following pains are common at any fast-growing project-based organization:
- Process standardization is required. When you were managing a small group, it was easy to define a work process on the fly. A larger group requires defined procedures.
- Collaboration becomes complicated. The small group consisted of a few people working well together. But working with many people involves differing interests, backgrounds and work methods.
- Conflict resolution is harder. Solving disagreements was once done over a cup of coffee or a beer. Now it requires (group) coaching sessions.
- Politics enter the picture. Remember when it was so easy to make major decisions?
- New leadership skills are required. When you find yourself managing many project participants, new approaches are needed.
- Cultures clash. Small groups are easily aligned. But with more people, it can be tricky to shape a project culture.
Accept that growing pains are part of becoming bigger and better.
Just remember: We all aim for growth. Don't get nostalgic for when things were easier. Accept that growing pains are part of becoming bigger and better. Take time to reorganize, develop and put new skills into practice. Be patient with new team members and support them as they adjust to change. And don't forget the importance of dialogue. After all, the wonder weeks are temporary by definition—and you're likely to be proud of your organization's project management maturity. PM
| Karen Smits, PhD, is an organizational anthropologist working at Practical Thinking Group in Singapore. She can be reached at [email protected]. |